Yinka Adebayo, the Group Executive Director at Omnicom Media Group for West and Central Africa (WECA), brings decades of experience in marketing communications, with a primary focus on advertising and media buying. His expertise extends across various sectors, including FMCG, telecommunications, banking, automobile, and airline industries. Known for his consistent high performance, Yinka has earned numerous awards and recognitions throughout his career, particularly at mediaReach OMD, where he was celebrated as the most dedicated and committed employee. Additionally, he has delivered numerous papers on advertising, marketing, negotiation, and the entertainment industry. In this interview with the MediaConsortium team, he discusses consumer-related topics and other relevant issues.
Recently, ADVAN withdrew its lawsuit against ARCON/the Federal government. What do you make out of it?
For me it’s not a good sign. Even bad as it is, it portends a good omen in the sense that it now calls for us to pay a good attention to what we do and how we do them. A couple of things that we take for granted in terms of how serious we take the headship of an association we belong. An association that will impact on all of us. If you belong to an association that will impact on you- there is the need to take the headship a bit more seriously. The only thing I tend to see is that I don’t think it was a right approach for ADVAN, but it’s a good thing that they equally withdrew the case- which is a good one.
We can’t fight a person that says there is the need to protect the environment and don’t forget that it is because of the protection of the environment that gives the opportunity to cry in the first place. The only thing you can do of course of which ARCON has been advocating is opportunity for dialogue which ideally is the first thing before going to court. But haven resolved it, they have been able to retrace their steps. Two wrongs can’t make a right. It is now for us to sit down and pay more attention to the industry.
If the government is not paying attention to the industry before, I think they do now and we should take good advantage of it to grow the industry. When God takes you to the deepest part of the sea, often time, the purpose is not to drown you- the purpose might be to clean you up and take you to greater height so, these might be an opportunity for the government to pay greater attention to the industry and equally begin to see how some of the policies they come up with impact on the industry. I believe going forward we will begin to see some level of sanity.
You will also realise that ARCON is not doing anything bad, if only ADVAN is patient enough to come closer they will be able to see things from their own perspective. I have had interaction with the DG at several fora and have had several meaningful conversations with him. I believe we need to see how to meet each other at the middle to be able to achieve all we need to achieve. Ultimately, everybody is interested in the growth of the industry and that can only be achieved if we put our heads together, cross-fertilize ideas to achieve it. The DG has always said ARCON is not regulating to strangulate- ‘if we strangulate the industry- what is the future for us as regulator?’ What are we regulating? So, for me, its just for all stakeholders to come together so, we can all move in one direction.
What is your assessment about the industry in the face of the economic challenge?
For me, I am a very optimistic person. Life is a two-way streak- its either you see the cup as half full or half empty, and how you see it determines how you travel. I always say, crisis will always be the best avenue for managers to excel. When things are going well, one may not be forceful, but crisis period presents opportunities for people to put on their thinking cap. Like I said earlier, when God takes one to a crisis situation, the purpose is to clean the person- the question is, are you ready to be cleaned know that, nothing good comes easy.
I dare say the best thing that happened to us is COVID 19. Even though it brought death along with it- which we regret, it disciplined us. We have been very wasteful in this country- if COVID had not happen, the way we use technology in this country we would not have. Zoom has been with us forever, yet we spent a lot of time engaging in frivolities- many of the cars on the road need not be there. During the COVID I know the number of interviews I had from the comfort of my home with different media organisations without going out. Change does not come easy, but COVID forced the change on us.
Again, see how it has brought the entrepreneur spirit of the youth- in music entertainment and all. See something will happen to you for God to teach you a lesson. While some companies are running away which is expected- some are still here. That means they are seeing something we are not seeing. While some are saying I want to ‘japa’ some are saying I want to ‘ja-in’. and they are coming in, in droves.
What would you say about consumers’ confidence in Nigeria at the moment?
For me, consumers’ confidence has always been there- the question is, are the brands ready? Truth is, the consumers of yesterday are not the consumers of today, the consumers of today are we ready for them? There is nothing like brand loyalty anymore- consumers are more interested in value delivery. If consumers are king, are you crowning them. Are you giving them their flower, their honour? And they are asking question. What is in for us. How are you going to improve and impact my status. All you need to do is key into their passion point- they don’t have loyalty anymore. Many of our buying decision is emotionally driven rather than rational.
I hear people say attention span is low- yes, attention span is low because there is no content. When there is content you keep them. Give consumers what they want, how they want and when they want it and you keep them- once they get proof of delivery, they will be in bed with you. Do things that interest them, by analyzing them to know their passion point- football, music and all and key into them. Things are evolving and we must evolve with it. Demand is there but are we ready. We talk of dirty December- who says January can’t be dirty or March? Brands need to be sensitive, know their customer and finetune their offerings in a way that meet the expectation of the consumers. Present it in a way that is trendy. And when they are ready to tick the box, be rest assured that they will patronize.
Can we say the age segmentations is still relevant when it comes to marketing
Yes, it’s still relevant the only thing is that we need to continue to see how we as individuals can evolve. Often time, we should avoid a situation where we allow our age to dictate. Age for me is just a number, if only we learn to do 50 percent of what we recommend to brands we will not be the same person. We recommend to brands to go invent, are we inventing ourselves- we tell brands to go and repackage, are we repackaging ourselves- we talked about going to reposition, are we repositioning ourselves? Nobody want a dieing brand- we should see ourselves as brand asking the question if I put myself on the shelf, how much value will be placed on me. Know where to use your age- knowing that experience count. The question is how are we deploying it. We should not allow our age to be our limitation- know when to evolve.
In terms of audience data, how has the Nigerian consumers fare?
We are in the ‘sorosoke’ generation. The type of audience we have now are the ones that will tell you the way it is. Unlike the people of the past, if you ask them question, they will tell you the way it is. But, there is always a story behind the number. The question is are we able to use the available data and use it correctly to deliver value the way it should. Data is good and has improved and I think with this generation we can tap this by putting machinery in place to constantly extract the information. Note that today’s customers change by the second- seeking data for one year may not cut it again. Their loyalty is that moment at the time.
The era of physical research seems to be waning what do you think?
The era of going to the market for data has changed- thank God for technology. Whatever information we seek now, can be gotten online- we cannot seek technology and still be doing things manually. Part of what technology brings is easier way of doing things- and this speaks to what we said earlier about not being on the road always for meeting and yet get things done via virtual meetings and the like. I think brand should learn to unmask their clients to connect more with them and use it for their own benefit.
How important is effective communication in brand management?
The importance of effective communications is not lost on anybody. But, often time many people don’t pay attention and it’s the little thing that really matters. For me, I will be more interested in helping somebody who has lost N10 than somebody who has lost N10m because the guy who lost N10, that might mean the whole world to him but, if you are in the cadre of N10m you are a big man and we can take time to address your issue. But those in the N10 category they are the desperate people they may not be economically empowered but, they talk a lot and the word-of-mouth impact is huge.
Let us understand that, nothing is small or unimportant but, it depends on how you handle it that will determine resolution. No matter how, if somebody is not happy and it’s not your intention to make him unhappy it is on you to correct that impression, whatever it takes- pay attention to the little things. Again, let us note that some people know how to induce crisis for their own benefit. However, issue that must be addressed must be addressed properly for resolution, so we don’t end up spending millions for minor resolution.
Consumers are asking question- the brand must continue to listen. What value are you providing. Until we continue to give customers value and sense of belonging, the gap will continue to widen. The happiness index of Nigeria is very low- understandably so. This is as a result of so many things – power, low purchasing power and all. Customers will gravitate to brands that constantly provide value to them and will bond with them. A typical example, during the covid period there were negative news everywhere- so we worked with DSTV to bring up ‘Owambe’ party (virtual) to connect with the people which brought up moments of fun with consumers. We needed to be tactical to connect with the consumers, emotionally and all we had to do was researched the consumers, discover what they want to provide value.
